Moses for Tomb of Julius II Statue by Michelangelo. Church of Saint Peter (San Pietro) in Vincoli, Rome, 1515 A.D. Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475-1564), born in Tuscany and educated in Florence, undertook his most ambitious work in Rome for Julius II, a warrior pope whose terrible temper did not exclude a sensitivity to art. He commissioned Michelangelo to sculpt his tomb of which the statue of Moses is the summary of the entire monument. We see Moses with the Tables of the Law that contain the ten Commandments on his right hand. He looks irately at the Jews after coming down from Mt. Sinai and finding them worshipping the Golden Calf, the false idol they had made. His left hand, veins throbbing, muscles tense, appears to be holding back from violent action. The extraordinary force of this figure, the tension in the veins and muscles, the posture and the furious expression, have rightly made this Moses one of the most admired masterpieces of all time. The horns represent the "rays of light" that were seen around Moses' face after his meeting with God on Mt Sinai.

Size: 11" X 4.75" X 4.75"

Weight: 6 lbs

Material: Cultured Marble

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Museum Reproductions Information:

History of Art Reproductions: As far as we know, the history of art reproductions takes us back to Imperial Rome where bronze and marble reproductions of Greek masterpieces served as decoration for lavish Roman Villas and Gardens. The art of casting is thousands of years old: Terracotta’s, Bronzes and ancient glass were cast from molds. Closer to our time in the mid 18th century coinciding with the search for new artistic styles which took inspiration from the roots of classic art (neoclassicism) and the discovery of Herculaneum in 1738 and Pompeii in 1748, archaeological reproductions reappeared all over Europe. As a result of French expeditions to Egypt during the nineteenth century, a casting facility was set up next to the Louvre Museum where many important archaeological pieces from ancient Egypt were reproduced. Following the example of the Louvre, other leading European museums began to reproduce some of the masterpieces in their collections thus initiating a trend that continues until today.

Art Reproduction Craftsmanship: For the making of art reproductions, masterpieces have been chosen from the best museums all over the world, The Louvre, The British Museum, The National Museum of Athens, The Egyptian Museum Cairo, The New York Metropolitan Museum of Art. We only use materials and techniques that can achieve the best quality in reproducing original works of art to obtain very fine pieces, up to the last detail. Our sculptures are cast in a variety of mediums: Bonded Stone, Polyresins, and Bronze. The finish of each reproduction, is always hand-made and showing craftsmanship and historical sense, is the work of an artisan. It is the task to present to the people of today the legacy of those ancient civilizations with all the beauty and mystery of our ancestors again in front of our eyes and at the reach of our hands. There is several steps that must be taken before a museum reproduction sculpture can be made. Most of our items are original artworks created by our sculptors, carved out of clay, stone, or wood. Once the original is carved, a mold is made, usually out of silicon. Crushed stone in a liquid resin medium is poured into a silicon mold where it solidifies into a hard stone that reproduces all the detail and texture of the original. All the finishes are done by hand. Many finishes include color detailing, a labor intensive process where colors are applied with small brushes by our skilled artisans.